California’s Prop 19 — the contentious ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana for recreational use in the Golden State — was defeated on Tuesday night by a 54-46 margin.
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson spoke about the issue with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, and the Zen Master had mixed feelings about the idea of legal pot.
“There’s no need to have our federal system and our state system fill the prisons with people who are prosecuted for this,” Jackson said, before adding the measure was, “poorly written.”
Jackson believes that the Len Bias tragedy has changed the way people perceive recreational drug use.
“It’s what we call the soft drug in the old days before the Len Bias situation changed everything in this country as far as drugs go. We have to get control of some of the things in this society we need to get control of in this drug war,” he remarked.
Jackson has maintained a reputation as a political moderate throughout his career — supporting democrats Bill Bradley and Barack Obama in their respective bids for president, but also saying that Americans want a tougher stance on immigration.
